A friend and I both bought our 17" laptop computers around the same time. Actually, I had just ordered mine from Dell when she walked in with her new HP computer. It's a good thing I had ordered mine already, the new laptops with the wide screens are way cool.

I bought the laptop with the idea of taking it with me when I traveled, and I had an old college book bag that I thought would come in handy to carry it around in. But, of course, my friend went one step further and bought a really cool laptop bag, and then I wanted one too!

I wanted that new women's laptop bag even more after I went on a trip and brought my new computer with me. There were just a few too many things missing when using a regular book bag to carry the laptop around.

First - it was not protected very well. I had to make my own laptop bag cushions by putting my extra clothes around the laptop because I didn't want my water bottle and other items to scratch it - or worse yet, leak on it. This made it a little hard to take the laptop in and out of the bag when I wanted to use it on the plane. At that point, I thought maybe a laptop sleeve would come in handy.

Even though my friend had a cool laptop bag, I soon discovered that it was also more functional than a regular book backpack. Of course, I had to do a lot of research before I settled on my first laptop bag, and since I wanted a really cool laptop bag there were a lot of things to consider. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you look for a women's laptop bag, and especially if you're going to purchase it online:

** What to consider first - As you start to look through the available womens laptop bags, you will find that there are a lot of choices. So you need to first decide what kind of womens laptop bag you want. This will make your shopping go much faster.

The choices you will be presented with are whether you want a messenger laptop bag (which usually means it is carried on the shoulder); a backpack type bag - or do you need a rolling laptop bag. Depending on your strength and ability to carry a load on your back, you might want to consider a rolling laptop bag; a 17' laptop like mine, which weighs 9.2 pounds, might get a little heavy in a backpack.

**Hard sided laptop cases versus soft sided laptop bags: If you're going to use your new women's laptop bag to carry your laptop to meetings, it's a good idea to keep the tone down a little, and maybe consider a less colorful hard sided case. These types of laptop bags will make it look more like a briefcase and help you stand out as being more professional.

**It's Important to Consider Total Weight: Be aware of how much the bag weighs when empty, then add on the weight of your laptop. My laptop is over 9 pounds, which is why I reconsidered buying the women's laptop bag that weighed just under 3 pounds. That's a lot of extra weight to carry around for just a laptop carry bag. For me, the better option was the lightweight womens laptop bag, over the nicer leather bag. It just made more sense. I would basically be using it to tote my stuff from the airport to the hotel room. I'm happy to report that my new lightweight pink laptop bag has enough protection for my laptop, as well as enough space for my accessories, extra clothes a water bottle and a few important snack items. It's nice to stand out from the crowd with a cool womens laptop bag!